Saturday, October 31, 2015

Years ago someone instructed me to read the Bible until
God impressed me with something, then write what I noticed in the passage. This
year’s devotional book is called “Connect the Testaments.” Many days
I’ve seen how they old and the new relate to one another. Today, these three
readings may have connections that I do not see, but God impresses me with these
truths.

Why godly people fail

Christians and the general public are shocked when a
prominent Christian leader falls into sin. I’m shocked when it happens to me, a
rather ordinary person. Jesus is our Savior so why does He not save us from our
sinful selves? Today a verse stands out from in the midst of Daniel’s
prophesies about the future. He says this: “ . . . and
some of the wise shall stumble, so that they may be refined, purified, and made
white, until the time of the end, for it still awaits the appointed time.”
(Daniel 11:35)

Some of the characteristics of my sinful nature are forgiven
and cleansed by a simple confession. Others are so deeply ingrained that only a
gross failure will persuade me to let go of them. From this verse, I see that stumbling
into a particular sin is part of the salvation process. When it happens, it is
the beginning of God’s refinement for He will use the failure to change my
attitude toward that particular “I will rule my own life” attitude. This
becomes a painful but necessary ‘stumble’ to show me that I cannot rule anything.

Increased knowledge does not mean we know everything

The Bible says that in the last days, there will be “a time of trouble . . . .” but God’s people “will be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found
written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall
awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and
those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. But you,
Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end. Many
shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.” (Daniel 12:1–4)

Certainly knowledge is increasing. Certainly God’s people
are actively turning others to Christ. But the prophecies of Daniel are a
puzzle and exactly what will happen at the end of things is hidden from us all.
Only those who know the Lord even realize that God has declared truth, but that
is about all we understand about the future.It is as God said to Daniel: “For the words
are shut up and sealed until the time of the end. Many shall purify themselves
and make themselves white and be refined, but the wicked shall act wickedly.
And none of the wicked shall understand, but those who are wise shall
understand.” (Daniel 12:9–10)

Job’s disaster turned to blessing

The remaining child of the Alberta family who lost all
three daughters in a farm accident said, “If God can make good out of bad,
then something awfully good must be coming.” This faith is a gift from God,
something that shone through even while Job struggled to understand what was
happening to him. He was never told that his faith was being tested, but I
suspect he knew as soon as, “The Lord restored the fortunes of Job, when
he had prayed for his friends. And the Lord
gave Job twice as much as he had before. Then came to him all his brothers and
sisters and all who had known him before, and ate bread with him in his house.
And they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him . . . .”
(Job 42:10–12)

I can relate. When God tests my faith, I’m oblivious to
the why of the trying events, but when blessings come afterwards, I know
God is using all things for my good. He is wise; His ways are higher than mine.

Warning to the lazy

In all of this, I could sit and do nothing, but God gives
another message that is for every generation. Paul heard that some Christians
were walking in idleness and was inspired by the Lord to say they were, “not busy at work, but busybodies.” He commanded
and encouraged them in the Lord Jesus Christ to “do
their work quietly and to earn their own living” and to “not grow weary in
doing good.” This was so important that, “If
anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person, and
have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed. Do not regard him as an
enemy, but warn him as a brother.” (2 Thessalonians 3:11–15)

God isn’t talking only about earning a living. I’m not
supposed to sponge off the generosity of others, but this also hints at my
responsibilities as His servant who is supposed to obey His commands. While I
cannot do all of them all the time, I need to pay attention to the Holy Spirit,
gladly and energetically never letting my laziness rule instead of Him.

Friday, October 30, 2015

Most parents want their children to obey them. When the
child rebels, those parents warn them of the consequences. If disobedience
continues, the wise parent may even use those consequences to build an attitude
of willing submission. This is not tyranny, abuse, or because the child is
annoying them, but a wise decision made by a loving parent.

Why then do many people resist and are even angry about
the idea that God is a heavenly Father who wants obedience from His children? He
also might use the consequences of disobedience to train His children. This is
for our good and not because He is riled.

Daniel was one of the few heroes of the Old Testament who
understood that discipline is not a mean retaliation but a mercy.

In Daniel’s prayer of confession, he says: “To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we
have rebelled against him and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by walking in his laws,
which he set before us by his servants the prophets. All Israel has
transgressed your law and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice. And the
curse and oath that are written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have
been poured out upon us, because we have sinned against him. He has confirmed
his words, which he spoke against us and against our rulers who ruled us, by
bringing upon us a great calamity. For under the whole heaven there has not
been done anything like what has been done against Jerusalem. As it is written
in the Law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us; yet we have not
entreated the favor of the Lord
our God, turning from our iniquities and gaining insight by your truth.
Therefore the Lord has kept ready
the calamity and has brought it upon us, for the Lord our God is righteous in all the works that he has done,
and we have not obeyed his voice.” (Daniel 9:9–14)

Repeated disobedience brought a calamity. After seventy
years in captivity, Israel did learn one thing; they abandoned idolatry and obediently
worshiped God only.

Job was not rebellious but he did challenge the wisdom of
God. After the Lord spoke to him about what He alone can do, Job answered and
said: “I know that you can do all things, and that
no purpose of yours can be thwarted. ‘Who is this that hides counsel without
knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too
wonderful for me, which I did not know. ‘Hear, and I will speak; I will
question you, and you make it known to me.’ I had heard of you by the hearing
of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in
dust and ashes.” (Job 42:1–6)

Then the Lord
turned to Eliphaz, one of Job’s ‘friends’ who accused him of sin. He said, “My anger burns against you and against your two friends,
for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. Now
therefore take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer up
a burnt offering for yourselves. And my servant Job shall pray for you, for I
will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly. For you
have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.” (Job
42:7–8)

It is God’s prerogative to judge and punish sin. He tells
parents to bring up their children in that same “nurture and admonition” but does
warn the rest of us to be careful about making judgments. If what we say is not
true, then we are in league with “the accuser” of God’s people, the lawless
one.

Paul warned about unrighteous judgment also. He said, “For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only
he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the
lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of
his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. The coming of
the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and
wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because
they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a
strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may
be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”
(2 Thessalonians 2:7–12)

There are people who love their sin more than God, and
don’t care about the consequences. Daniel and Job were not in that group.
Neither are those who have yielded their lives to Jesus Christ. Of them, Paul
writes, “Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and
God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through
grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.”
(2 Thessalonians 2:16–17)

The well-known song, Amazing Grace, says, “Once
I was lost, but now am found, blind but now I see . . . .” the way to this
blessing is to follow Daniel and Job in their prayers of repentance and
submission, knowing and believing the truth and desiring to be obedient to our
Heavenly Father, yet the only reason we are able to think or act this way is because
of the amazing grace of our God.

Thursday, October 29, 2015

God makes His power known in many ways. One is in
creation. In the book of Job, He describes a great beast that He formed. Part
of this description says: “His belly is
armor-plated, inexorable — unstoppable as a barge. He roils deep ocean the way
you’d boil water, he whips the sea like you’d whip an egg into batter. With a
luminous trail stretching out behind him, you might think Ocean had grown a
gray beard! There’s nothing on this earth quite like him, not an ounce of fear
in that creature! He surveys all the high and mighty— king of the ocean, king
of the deep!” (Job 41:30–34, The Message)

Job stopped questioning God after this description. Since
God can create a beast like that, is there anything He cannot do? However, many
people have decided that there is no Creator and the worlds around us happened by
chance or some other means than the power described in the Bible. They miss
seeing the power of God.

Governing the affairs of the world is also included in God’s
to-do list. While this power is described in many ways, prophetic declarations
and their fulfillment are most amazing. This week, a radio preacher said that at
least 100 prophecies from the book of Daniel have already been fulfilled. Imagine
God writing a to-do list and over the decades and centuries of time, as those
events happen He checks them off.

Yet the list has more events that are yet to happen, like
this one: “I saw in the night visions, and behold,
with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the
Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and
glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his
kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.” (Daniel 7:13–14) This points
to Jesus Christ whose kingdom is “already but not yet” among us.

God’s unlimited power goes by the theological word ‘omnipotent.”
He displays it in a general way like the creation of our planet, and in specific
events like prophecy and its fulfillment. But God’s power is also seen in the
lives of His people. He has the power to build my faith, to increase my love
for others, to protect me from anyone who wants to hurt me, and to even use me
to show the world that judgment is coming. His Word puts it this way:

“We ought always to give
thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing
abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing.
Therefore we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your
steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that
you are enduring. This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you
may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also
suffering— since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those
who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us,
when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming
fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not
obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal
destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his
might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be
marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was
believed.” (2 Thessalonians 1:3–10)

God takes care of me, but He does not ignore those who do
not know or obey Him. Some of this passage is not very popular for even Christians
struggle with the idea of eternal punishment. Yet God says those who reject His
offer of forgiveness and eternal salvation will not enjoy those gifts. How can they
when they have made it clear that they are not interested in being with the
Lord forever?

My understanding of eternal condemnation is being
separated from God without all the good He is and does. There is nothing but
emptiness, no beauty or light but darkness and ugliness, no sense of consistent
care or a solid rock on which to stand. Instead, there is fear and unsteadiness,
no love but alone and abandoned.

My short description makes me feel both horror and
gratitude. I am glad to be a child of God who enjoys His power, but there is a
great burden in my heart for those who don’t know Almighty God because they
have ignored or rejected Him. His power is evident. His love is not far away. All
that He is is best displayed in His Son who gave His life that we can know and
enjoy our powerful Creator.

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

The human heart so easily slides into a ‘works-righteousness’
attitude that thinks I can give/do/perform so that God will be pleased. But I have
nothing to give God. It is as God said to Job, “Who
has given me anything that I need to pay back? Everything under heaven is mine.”
(Job 41:11 NLT)

In the days of Daniel, four kings ruled Babylon. None of
them started out thinking God had anything to do with their lives, particularly
their success, but God confronted their pride with varying results.

The second king was Belshazzar. God came uninvited to a
big party where this man called for the vessels of gold and of silver that
Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem. Then he and
his lords, his wives, and his concubines drank from them and “praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood,
and stone.” At that, the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on
the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace. The king saw the writing on the
wall, and his “color changed, and his thoughts
alarmed him; his limbs gave way, and his knees knocked together.”
(Daniel 5:2–6)

None of his wise men could interpret the writing, so Belshazzar
called for Daniel. Daniel reminded him of what happened to his father when his
heart was lifted up and his spirit hardened, and how his pride was brought down
by a long period of having a mind like a beast. He lived with wild donkeys and
he ate grass like an ox until he knew “that the
Most High God rules the kingdom of mankind and sets over it whom he will.”

Then Daniel said, “And you his
son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this.”
(Daniel 5:20–22). The writing on the wall was translated and spelled out the
end of this man’s rule, and “That very night
Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed.”

Darius the Mede became the next king. He liked Daniel and planned
to set him over the whole kingdom. However, his officials were jealous and
concocted a plot, resulting in Daniel being thrown into a den of lions. (Daniel
6:3–4) Darius was sleepless. The next day, he went to the den where Daniel was
and cried out in anguish, “O Daniel, servant of the
living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you
from the lions?”

Daniel answered, “O king, live
forever! My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not
harmed me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you, O
king, I have done no harm.” (Daniel 6:20–22) And lest anyone think the
lions were not hungry, Darius tossed the people who betrayed Daniel into that
same den and they were immediately gobbled up.

Darius realized the power of God over the plans of men. He
made a decree: “In all my royal dominion people are
to tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, for he is the living God,
enduring forever; his kingdom shall never be destroyed, and his dominion shall
be to the end. He delivers and rescues; he works signs and wonders in heaven
and on earth, he who has saved Daniel from the power of the lions.”
(Daniel 6:26–27)

God owns everything under heaven and also rules it all. He
has the power to write on a wall the fate of a proud man’s life, and the power
to control the actions of hungry lions.

Because of this power, some say things like “Let go and
let God” as if He will zap us with whatever we need or will solve our problems.
Others say we have to at least do something. As for me, when God steps in, I so
easily pat myself on the back instead of giving Him the glory, yet He is my Savior.
I cannot save myself, nor could Nebuchadnezzar, or Belshazzar, nor Darius, nor
even Daniel. I’m helpless without God.

Because that is the case, I’m so thankful that His Word says,
“Now may the God of peace make you holy in every
way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our
Lord Jesus Christ comes again. God will make this happen, for he who calls you
is faithful.” (1 Thessalonians 5:23–24)

The song says Jesus loves me, and that we are
weak but He is strong. This is true. Kings cannot build kingdoms without
Him, and no one can be holy or blameless apart from His faithful and keeping
power!

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Yesterday God spoke to me about human pride. Compared to
Him, I know nothing. I’m hearing this again, and know that pride is still a
part of my thinking.

In Job, God repeats yesterday’s questions, this time
concerning a sea creature. He asks Job, “Can you
draw out Leviathan with a fishhook or press down his tongue with a cord?” Of course Job cannot, nor can I. God ends His reminders with, “Behold, the hope of a man is false; he is laid low even
at the sight of him” (the sea creature), implying that no one can stand
before God in pride. (Job 41:1, 9)

In the book of Daniel, King Nebuchadnezzar has another
dream. He is troubled by this one for it is about a tree torn down. He calls
his magicians, enchanters, Chaldeans, and astrologers, but they could not make
known its interpretation. Then he calls Daniel, saying, “O Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, because I know that the
spirit of the holy gods is in you and that no mystery is too difficult for you,
tell me the visions of my dream that I saw and their interpretation.”
(Daniel 4:7–9)

This proud king is still thinking he does not need God,
but Daniel tells him that as in his dream, “you
shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of
the field. You shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and you shall be wet with
the dew of heaven, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, till you know
that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.”
(Daniel 4:24–25)

The dream came true. A year later, Nebuchadnezzar was
walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon. He said, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my
mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?” While the
words were still in his mouth, a voice from heaven said, “O King
Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: The kingdom has departed from you, and you
shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of
the field. And you shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and seven periods of
time shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom
of men and gives it to whom he will.”

Immediately Nebuchadnezzar was driven from among men and
ate grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair
grew as long as eagles’ feathers, and his nails were like birds’ claws. (Daniel
4:28–33)

But he was humbled and finally realized that he needed
God. In the end, he lifted his eyes to heaven, and said, “I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who
lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom
endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are
accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of
heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or
say to him, “What have you done?” At the same time my reason returned to me,
and for the glory of my kingdom, my majesty and splendor returned to me. My
counselors and my lords sought me, and I was established in my kingdom, and
still more greatness was added to me. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol
and honor the King of heaven, for all his works are right and his ways are
just; and those who walk in pride he is able to humble.” (Daniel
4:34–37)

What does it take? For Job, it was deep perplexity and a
better look at the power of God. For this pagan king, it was seven years of
mental illness before he bowed to admit God was everything and he was nothing.

In the NT reading, Paul writes to a church that is afraid
they missed the Second Coming and that the dead in Christ were lost. He says to
them, “But we do not want you to be uninformed,
brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who
have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so,
through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this
we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left
until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the
voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead
in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught
up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will
always be with the Lord. . . .” (1 Thessalonians 4:13–18)

Then he added, “You are not in
darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all
children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the
darkness . . . . Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just
as you are doing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:4–5, 11)

In this case, their pride figured out the answer, making
death the end of their hope. They needed to listen to the Word of the Lord and
be reminded that He has even death under His control.

I’m going to a funeral today. This is a good word for me,
and perhaps I can share it with those who grieve as if they have no hope.

Blog Description

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16–17)